Nuclear Science

Nuclear Systems Modeling, Simulation & Validation

BWR flux with control blade inserted.

ORNL has a national and international reputation for development and application of nuclear software (e.g., the SCALE code system) and core staff with diverse expertise in nuclear systems (e.g., fission and fusion reactors, the Spallation Neutron Source, safeguards measurement systems) and applied R&D (e.g., isotope production, irradiation experiments). ORNL is also a leader in developing and applying coupled, multi-physics, high-fidelity modeling and simulation tools that are designed to scale from single processors to the world's largest supercomputers.

The DOE Nuclear Energy Hub (CASL, the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors) is a prominent example of ORNL's ability to synergize this expertise, together with outside partners, to address a national challenge identified by DOE.

The ORNL strategy for computational analysis of nuclear systems is to form strong connections among: our demonstrated core expertise, our sponsored support in the nuclear science and technology fields, and the advancements being brought by R&D in computational engineering and high-performance computing.

HFIR vessel inner surface dpa rates.

Such connections assure that we continue to make advancements in ORNL modeling and simulation (M&S) capabilities and that we maintain a focus on having reliable, validated software that is applicable to addressing national problems of interest.

Computational analysis tools developed at ORNL and elsewhere are used by applications experts in a broad range of nuclear applications to provide predictive design and analysis solutions for both "routine" problems and the largest, most challenging, first-of-a-kind problems.